Gold or Glitter: The Underside of the Porn Industry

“I watched a lot of porn, and I really liked it, so I realised I needed to go into this.” Lola Taylor is a painter and a former adult movie star. Though the porn business has become a goldmine for some girls, it became a complete disillusion for Lola. In the second episode of the Price of Vice series, RT Documentary reveals the frustrations and dangers of the vice industry.

The life story of porn actress Lola Taylor began in the small town of Ishim in the Russian Urals. At the time, she went by the name Luyba Bushuyeva.

After her mother’s tragic death, Luyba was brought up by her grandparents. Her first job was in a local library. It’s where Lyuba became an avid reader: her favourite writers were Dostoyevsky and Nabokov.

After graduating from school, Luyba moved to the city of Yekaterinburg, where she trained to be a passenger conductor on the railways. However, the plan didn’t work out…

Experts say poverty and lack of opportunity are among the key factors pushing young girls from around the world into the vice industry. In addition, the moral crisis is another factor contributing to the flow of workforce to the industry.

“Difficult life situations always push and stimulate: a lack of money, lack of job, the serious illness of a loved one,” says Lev Scheglov, psychotherapist and sexologist. “The main factor is that in a difficult life situation, Galya will go into the sexual service market, and Tanya will take a second job mopping floors at night.”

Having settled in Yekaterinburg, the girl found herself in a desperate situation. As she had no one to turn to for financial support, she took a job in an erotic massage parlour to make ends meet. The job became a turning point in her life.

Massage parlours and other adult venues first appeared in Russia in the late 1990s and immediately gained popularity all over the country. Although prostitution and other sex industries are illegal in Russia, there’s never been any shortage of sex workers anywhere you care to mention. The work at the parlour in Yekaterinburg inspired Luyba to go further in the sex industry.

Some time later, the might-have-been train conductor wound up in Budapest, which shortly after the fall of communism became one of the European porn industry’s main hubs. During the few years Lyuba spent in the porn capital, she acted in several group-sex and hardcore scenes for adult movie producers.

The vice industry has become a goldmine for some but a complete disillusion for others. Lyuba was among the latter. Despite all her efforts, big-name porn studios eluded the aspiring porn star.

Watch the first episode of Price of Vice to learn more about the life of Russian sex industry workers.

“There’s not much money in it. I even made more at the massage parlour. There you could make $150 a day and do nothing,” the girl says. “But in porn, you get $400 per shoot, but you have to pay for tickets, the hotel, the tests, and the driver...”

Having failed to make enough money, Luyba returned to Russia under a different name: Lola Taylor.

To recover from a failed European experience, Lola decided to have a break. So, together with a friend, she went to a beach resort. While there, she met a young man on the internet, and they arranged a date.

But instead of a romantic dinner, Lyuba found two aggressive men waiting for her. They beat and raped her the whole night. It was only in the morning that she managed to escape through a window.

The rendezvous resulted in a broken hipbone, and Lyuba had to undergo surgery. But the rapists didn’t get away with it — they got eight years in prison.

Psychologists say even the girls who are lucky not to have suffered any physical violence suffer from serious psychological conditions for the rest of their lives.

“She’s done with prostitution, she wants to erase it from her memory, but during embraces or intimacy, not the best of those hundreds or maybe even thousands of trysts that she’s had working as a prostitute involuntarily come to mind. This is a big wound! It requires a course of treatment with a psychologist and a psychotherapist. This is very deep trauma!”

The beach resort incident became another turning point in Lola’s life. This time, she realised it was time to abandon the vice industry and lead a more conventional lifestyle.

Before her unfortunate rendezvous, Van Gogh's works and his hard life had captured Lola's imagination during a visit to Amsterdam. She started dabbling in painting. When she was in a hospital, her desire to paint blossomed in full force…

How did Lola manage to break away from the vicious cycle, and has she made her artistic dream come true? Watch the second episode of Price of Vice to find out!